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Gallo-Belgic Broad Flan. Left Type. Bellovaci. c.150-125 BC. Celtic gold stater. 24mm. 7.25g.
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Auctioneer has chosen not to publish the price of this lot
Norwich, Norfolk
Description
Gallo-Belgic Broad Flan. Left Type with Ornamented Reverse. Sills G-B Ab1, class 5, fig 33j, dies 37/44. Bellovaci. c.150-125 BC. Gold stater. 24mm. 7.25g. Draped bust of androgynous deity left, face framed by three crescent moons, with flamboyant flaming hair, hairbar, laurel wreath and zigzag (snake)./ Disarticulated horse galloping left, with split head, curvy body, dotty mane and double legs; vestigial winged charioteer above, spoked double rosette below, pellet-in triangle before, elliptical chariot wheel behind. ABC–, LT 7886, DT 67, Sch/GB class VIIIb, VA–, S 2, Sills GGC 296. EF/Good VF, golden gold with antique cabinet tone, full ‘he-she’ face fully displayed, including tip of nose (usually off flan), whole horse with charioteer and all key ornaments clearly exhibited, including complete triangle. Neat round flan, flawless surfaces, no plough-soil scuffs, probably pretty much as minted and so possibly from an old hoard. One of the finest Broad Flan staters we’ve had. From an old (apparently pre-1950s) English collection, with original ticket. RARE reverse die, only 46 others recorded.
Here is a stater that makes a statement, a big statement. To impress the coalition forces of Belgica in their fight against the Cimbri and to gobsmack the mercenaries from Britannia, it was made on a bigger flan with a bigger head with bigger hair struck by lightning, with a big new cloak over the shoulder, and with a bigger biga on the reverse. Wow! Here is war-gold worth fighting for. Here is a coalition stater that coalesces the most potent cosmic forces. Here are the sun-faced Day God and the moon-faced Night Queen united in a single he-she deity, fused together by a fiery lightning bolt which parts their hair and lands as a thunderflash in their ear. Exoterically, this is a ‘lightning rod’. Esoterically, this is the ringing radiance, the divine son et lumière, the audible life stream, the Word of God that creates, sustains and destroys all life. This triple potency is echoed by the pellet-in-triangle (seed in womb) in front of the two chariot-horses which have now merged into one big night-mare, though still retaining traces of their separate identities (split head, double legs). Triple potency is also reflected in the three tails of many British night-mares (e.g. Lots 10, 21, 22, 23). The lightning rod becomes forked lightning in Britain and is particularly prominent on Durotrigan staters, quarters and cast bronze units (e.g. Lots 22, 23). The rod originated as a drawn-back veil on the head of a Tarentine nymph, mother of Taras, legendary founder of Tarentum, SE Italy (Taras is the boy on Tinco’s dolphin, ABC 1127); or maybe Spartan ‘virgin mother’ of the Partheniae (‘sons of virgins’) who founded Tarentum in 706 BC. The antique ticket that has accompanied this stupendous ‘statement’ stater for over 70 years describes it as an ‘Ancient British Gold stater, Earliest Type’. Sir John Evans (1823-1908) himself believed Broad Flan staters were British. The fact that neither we nor Dr John Sills can find any previous record of this exceptional example suggests that this could well be the first time it has been offered for public sale.
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Gallo-Belgic Broad Flan. Left Type with Ornamented Reverse. Sills G-B Ab1, class 5, fig 33j, dies 37/44. Bellovaci. c.150-125 BC. Gold stater. 24mm. 7.25g. Draped bust of androgynous deity left, face framed by three crescent moons, with flamboyant flaming hair, hairbar, laurel wreath and zigzag (snake)./ Disarticulated horse galloping left, with split head, curvy body, dotty mane and double legs; vestigial winged charioteer above, spoked double rosette below, pellet-in triangle before, elliptical chariot wheel behind. ABC–, LT 7886, DT 67, Sch/GB class VIIIb, VA–, S 2, Sills GGC 296. EF/Good VF, golden gold with antique cabinet tone, full ‘he-she’ face fully displayed, including tip of nose (usually off flan), whole horse with charioteer and all key ornaments clearly exhibited, including complete triangle. Neat round flan, flawless surfaces, no plough-soil scuffs, probably pretty much as minted and so possibly from an old hoard. One of the finest Broad Flan staters we’ve had. From an old (apparently pre-1950s) English collection, with original ticket. RARE reverse die, only 46 others recorded.
Here is a stater that makes a statement, a big statement. To impress the coalition forces of Belgica in their fight against the Cimbri and to gobsmack the mercenaries from Britannia, it was made on a bigger flan with a bigger head with bigger hair struck by lightning, with a big new cloak over the shoulder, and with a bigger biga on the reverse. Wow! Here is war-gold worth fighting for. Here is a coalition stater that coalesces the most potent cosmic forces. Here are the sun-faced Day God and the moon-faced Night Queen united in a single he-she deity, fused together by a fiery lightning bolt which parts their hair and lands as a thunderflash in their ear. Exoterically, this is a ‘lightning rod’. Esoterically, this is the ringing radiance, the divine son et lumière, the audible life stream, the Word of God that creates, sustains and destroys all life. This triple potency is echoed by the pellet-in-triangle (seed in womb) in front of the two chariot-horses which have now merged into one big night-mare, though still retaining traces of their separate identities (split head, double legs). Triple potency is also reflected in the three tails of many British night-mares (e.g. Lots 10, 21, 22, 23). The lightning rod becomes forked lightning in Britain and is particularly prominent on Durotrigan staters, quarters and cast bronze units (e.g. Lots 22, 23). The rod originated as a drawn-back veil on the head of a Tarentine nymph, mother of Taras, legendary founder of Tarentum, SE Italy (Taras is the boy on Tinco’s dolphin, ABC 1127); or maybe Spartan ‘virgin mother’ of the Partheniae (‘sons of virgins’) who founded Tarentum in 706 BC. The antique ticket that has accompanied this stupendous ‘statement’ stater for over 70 years describes it as an ‘Ancient British Gold stater, Earliest Type’. Sir John Evans (1823-1908) himself believed Broad Flan staters were British. The fact that neither we nor Dr John Sills can find any previous record of this exceptional example suggests that this could well be the first time it has been offered for public sale.
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